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I am using Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon 64 bit. I had originally installed yesterday, and the update manager popped up on its own in the bottom right corner. After playing around with PlayOnLinux and failing to get Diablo3 or Counter Strike: Source working correctly, I decided to just reinstall, because I had tried a ton of things to get both of those two games working, and I didn't know how much I had changed.

However, after reinstalling, the Update Manager did not pop up automatically in the bottom right corner as it had before. I tried going from Menu -> System Tools -> Administration -> Update Manager, and installed all updates, but my desktop still seemed out of date compared to what it looked like before. When I tried to take a screenshot via Terminal to show you all what it looked like, I got the following response:

Backup any data you have not saved already to someplace off the hard drive if you want to save it.

This time when you go back to re-install, format both / and /home, especially if you have a separate home partition.

This is the only way to make sure that you have your Mint settings back to original conditions. Unfortunately, it will also erase all personal data which you have placed on the hard drive, so BACKUP YOUR DATA BEFORE PERFORMING THIS PROCEDURE!

This is a brand new computer I just built, so erasing the entire harddrive to reinstall is fine, but I thought this is what I did. I selected "Replace Linux 13 Maya with Linux 13 Maya", the second option in the installer. I don't know how to format both / and /home. I'm installing from an iso i created on a USB drive, which I boot from to reinstall Linux Mint 13. Thank you for your help, but unfortunately I'm not experience enough yet to understand exactly how to execute what you're saying.

While you are booting from your USB stick, open the System menu and select Gparted. Use Gparted to select your existing partitions and delete them.

Make sure you click the Apply checkmark after selecting them for deletion. When you have completed this step, go back to installing LM13. It won't ask you to install over or with LM13 anymore. There won't BE any LM13 to install over.

Okay thanks for the clarification. When I open Menu->System Tools, however, I don't see anything called Gparted. If you look at the picture of my desktop in the first post, it'll show you what I see in Systems Tools. Will I only be able to see Gparted when I boot linux from the USB in order to install it, or should I be able to see where it is now as well?

You will probably only see Gparted when you boot from your install thumb drive. It is needed to install, but not for normal operation.

Also, we are attempting to erase Mint. That is not going to work well if you are still within your installation. That is sort of like cutting off the limb of the tree you are sitting upon when you are 30 feet up from the ground. If you succeed partially, there will be much more damage to you and the tree. You won't be fully successful.

I tried to delete the partition, but now my desktop computer (using my laptop atm) is stuck applying pending operations in Gparted. Here's a picture I took with my phone. It hasn't moved for about twenty minutes:

Yea it wouldn't let me select the linux-swap partition for deletion, so I just deleted the one. I'm rebooting now and will attempt a reinstall.

Edit: when attempting to reinstall linux, it still sees the old installation of LM13. It looks like nothing was done to the old installation, and I still can't select /dev/sda2 --> /devsda5, which is the linux-swap. I tried deleting /dev/sda1 (can be seen in the previous picture) and it deleted immediately. Do I need to find a way to delete the linux swap, or should I just reinstall now?

Okay! After a little research, it seems linux-swaps must be disabled by right clicking and choosing "swap-off." I was then able to delete the linux swap & /dev/sda2 - extended drive. I am now reinstalling...hopefully I can get a proper install now! Thanks so much cwsnyder for sticking with me throughout this process. I've been trying to set up linux for three or four days now .